An Australian Diet

Jill's Journal: My husband is a classic Good Samaritan, forever helping others in need, particularly when those others are foreign tourists trying to park a rental RV or needing hook-up help or internet assistance. (It seems a huge number of Australians in particular and even Europeans rent RVs in America for their “holidays,” or what we call vacation).

One such Australian group Rob helped a few days ago showed up on our doorstep with a very large bag of groceries. They were on their way to the airport, heading back home to Australia, and wanted to leave their unused groceries with us as a thank you for Rob’s help. The items included everything from a toaster to cookies to milk, but some were things they’d brought with them in their suitcases to America and didn’t want to bring back. Australian Coco Pops were one such item. Green tea was another. But the oddest? Vegemite. We’d heard of this Australian staple before; it’s a food paste used on sandwiches, toast, and the like. Although it’s wildly popular in Australia and we really wanted to be game and try it, our American sensibilities were offended the instant it came out of the tube. Let’s just say the smell alone isn’t of roses!

I kiddingly offered the girls a Vegemite sandwich with a topping of sardines (also from the Australian goodie bag) and Coco Pops for dessert. They unanimously agreed they’d rather go hungry. Forget Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or Atkins or any other popular diets. Perhaps an Australian one is what America has been waiting for?

Kentucky Down Under

Jill's Journal: After our cheesy dinosaur experience, I was skeptical about taking the girls to Kentucky Down Under. It’s billed as Kentucky’s “piece of Australia” and we almost skipped it, but I’m so glad we didn’t. We’re not homeschooling yet, but this would have made the perfect science day. What a kid-friendly place!

The girls learned about so many animals native to Australia and particularly loved the dingoes, wallabies, and laughing kookaburras (birds). They got to touch a small python and get up close and personal with a bearded dragon. Witnessing chores done on a sheep station was another highlight.

But the best part was the kangaroos! The girls loved getting to pet two different breeds of kangaroo and even got to lift up the tail of one to feel how heavy it is (really heavy). They got to pet an emu (an ostrich-like bird) and dig through its feathers to find its skin. And they got to hand-feed lories (small, colorful parrots). The lory pictures are my favorite. Victoria and Madelyn wanted absolutely nothing to do with these birds after one landed on each of them, but were delighted to watch me feed them (they wanted to “look with their eyes, not with their hands!”). Erika was brave, or at least tried to be, and I snapped several adorable pictures before she, too, had enough!

Europe…Ooh la la!

Jill's Journal: When Rob shared his RVing through Europe idea as an epilogue to our US adventure, I about peed my pants!! WHAT a brilliant idea! I’m almost more fired up about that than I was about our North America plan! Unbelievable. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. It’s beyond brilliant and so very, very doable, especially after a few years of doing it here. And then there’s Australia and goodness knows where else… We could either ship our rig or sell what we have stateside and buy one there more suited to the local roads and lifestyles… Oh, the dreaming and scheming I am going to do!

I thought I was excited about our trip, but now I am ridiculously thrilled about it! What fabulous prospects are out there … the only limits on our future are our own imaginations!